Trump wanted to destroy NATO and European unity, he was doing Putin's job for him.
Now we see Germany at least say they will up their contribution and rebuild their military in order to be better prepared.
That’s pretty much in line with what he asked from them.
“Yeah, the second term,” Trump had said. “We’ll do it in the second term.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/13/book-exce...
Trump was certainly looking at getting out of NATO, which he saw as an arrangement where the US increasingly foots the bill for protecting other members. He openly criticised European dependence on Russian oil and gas, and Germany in particular for not paying their fair share towards defence.
There's a fantastically awkward video [1] of him explaining all of this directly to NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg. Germany announced this week that it will do exactly what Trump said it should: massively increase military spending [2] and decrease its dependence on Russia for energy [3].
Who is more useful to Putin? Trump, who told Europe to get its ass in gear and treat Russia as a threat, or the stooges you support, whose selfishness and complacency emboldened Russia to carry out this invasion?
[1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=M5MJEMHZZsI
[2] https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/budgetary-about...
[3] https://dw.com/en/ukraine-crisis-forces-germany-to-change-co...
And how does sending Javelins to Ukraine or blocking Nordstream 2 help Putin?
Second, that aid was never held up and is separate from the Javelins that were sent anyway.
What other President sent Ukraine weapons (not blankets) before this fiasco?
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/us-sancti...
[1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=M5MJEMHZZsI
(Disclaimer: I agree that orange man bad)